Of Gunmen and Rockfilled Holes
by ToriTheInvader
Summary: There is a disaster at NG and it shakes the Gravitation characters. After coming back from the edge of certain disaster, can they fix their relationships and get their lives back on track? Eventual YxS as well as other pairings -A bit of blood and fluff.
1. Chapter 1

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Hi there! Though I've been reading stories on FF for a long time, I've decided to finally take a whack at writing one myself, instead of just my usual proses (I write SO many proses). I've actually had this sitting in the back of an old notebook for over a year, so I figured I might as well try to fix it up and post it. Obviously I would appreciate some sort of feedback, because I barely know what I'm doing when it comes to fanfictions and all critiques (good or bad) are excepted. ^^

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters. So don't sue me. Seriously.

Summary: Shuichi and Yuki's relationship is on the rocks. After a sudden separation, a traumatizing disaster strikes all the Gravi. Characters and relationships are revamped as they all struggle to recover from the edge of death. Eventual ShuxYuki and a variety of other pairings.

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Shuichi slowly walked home, letting his feet scrape lazily against the pavement of the desolate sidewalk. That commute from NG Studios was a bit long, but really, not nearly long enough.

The sky was a nighttime darkness, yet, there was a halo of light above the city, from all the late night stores and other lit areas.

Shuichi inhaled deeply and looked up and around him. There was basically nobody on the streets of Tokyo except for him and the occasional pedestrian or stray car. So quiet, so calm. Really, why did the walk home have to be so short? To Yuki's home, that is. As much as Shuichi loved him, the relationship had actually started to strain him more then the usual depression, he really felt it this time. And for the first time in their two year romance, he was doubting the two of them as a couple, maybe even regretting having spent so much time on somebody who was no longer interested. Or was Yuki ever really interested? Shuichi took a deep breath of the cool air, it was refreshing. Maybe Yuki was interested. He had to be. The man just wasn't good with spoken words, but on occasion, he had most certainly proved it. Right?....Right?

Almost there. He could see a patch of the apartment from the top of the hill. He started his descent. Going slow on a slope like that made his knees bend slightly and throb. He gave in and walked a little faster.

It seemed that lately, Shuichi and Yuki were fighting more then ever. It had become nightly, vicious attacks on each other. It was mostly because Yuki was so demanding of quiet, but Shuichi had too, been doing things that would purposely rock the boat. He couldn't help it. He didn't understand himself when he did it, but he did. And that lack of justification worried him.

There were many, many things wrong with their relationship from the start, but over time, everybody had gotten used to the obvious. There were new conflicts, more hurtful ones.

For one, Yuki still held the right to kick Shuichi out when he felt like it. After over 720 days, Shuichi still could not use his name in a possessive form when speaking of the home, it still solely belonged the novelist.

To put it simply, Yuki just wanted space and Shuichi was sick of being ignored. He had spent so many nights in front of the TV, struggling over lyrics. He couldn't even go give his lover a hug when he got home from work.

If anything, this matured Shuichi. He had found the restraint to not burst into tears at anything. It was an adaptation, evolved as a survival technique from the aggravated beast down the hall. He hated it. He really did, but he loved Yuki. Though, he knew that love could not keep him in that apartment forever.

At least they were still having sex. Well, more like a good hour of penetration whenever Yuki got bored with his work or flat-out horny. There were no sweet nothings, loving touches, or even cuddling. A rip-roaring bang and then back to work.

Shuichi had become so envious of those deadlines that Yuki devoted his life to meeting.

Still, as he took the elevator, walked down the hall and slowly entered the apartment, he felt that tinge of worry in the core of his nerves. There was yet another fight brewing. There always was.

That wouldn't stop him tonight, though. He kicked off his shoes, went to the kitchen, and put a pot of water on the stove. Macaroni would have to do for tonight, it was too late to make anything else.

Shuichi dropped his bag on the counter and turned away to lean his back against it. He sighed unhappily and let his head fall back, banging slightly against the handle of the cabinet. He could hear the water on the stove go to a boil, his distressed breathing, and the faint tapping of keys down the hall. His fingertips involuntarily began to pound on the counter top, at first trying to keep up with Yuki's writing pace, but then giving up and just making a random beat that could someday become a song.

The peaceful quiet of this home was so serene – sickeningly, disturbing, mind-numbingly serene.

Shuichi put the noodles into the pot and headed down the hall, time to say "hi" to Yuki, might as well. The fight was inevitable, right?

He popped his head into Yuki's study. Then second-guessed himself when he saw Yuki so concentrated on the laptop. Such a beautiful face, Yuki's, when he was really deep in a writing spell. Shuichi stepped all the way in and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms to keep his hands from fidgeting, which Yuki despised.

"I'm home," Shuichi said.

"I heard," Yuki responded, not looking up.

"I'm making macaroni," Shuichi said. He was about to offer Yuki some, but he stopped himself. He couldn't just give everything to his lover. If Yuki wanted some, then he would have to ask for it. He waited for a moment.

Waited.

Waited.

Yuki never asked for any.

"If you want some, then come get it." Shuichi said with an aggression that warned he wasn't in the mood to be messed with, but that same gentle tone that meant he was always in the mood to be messed with, if it meant time with Yuki.

"Hn," Yuki grumbled, still not looking up from the illuminated screen.

The room really did reek of cigarette smoke.

"Okay, then," Shuichi said awkwardly. His hands had fallen to his sides and he was fidgeting against his upper thighs. He headed out the door, but paused a moment to get one last look at Yuki for the night. Before he got a chance to leave, the sound of fizzles carried down the hallway followed by a much louder one that mixed with the noise of spilling water.

It caught both men's attention.

"I'll go get that," Shuichi squealed frantically and bolted down the hallway. He knew right away that the water in the pot had boiled ever, and he had hurried out because he did not want to see the glare he knew Yuki would be shooting at him.

"That is the last time you use my kitchen," Yuki hollered from his study, "you can't even handle the easiest of meals, brat."

Shuichi paid no mind. He got a towel from the drawer and tenderly soaked up the water, wringing it out in the sink and going back for more. After cleaning up, he finished making the macaroni and took it in a bowl (along with a box of pocky) to the living room and sat on the floor. He watched a special on Nittle Grasper.

Feeling adventurous, he took each stick of strawberry pocky, dipped it ruthlessly in the bowl of cheesy noodles and ate it as that.

After awhile his butt lost feeling from the hard carpet, he lifted himself up onto the couch and watched Ryuichi discuss his fame and fortune in an interview. Shuichi was content for a bit, he didn't notice Yuki walk in.

Without saying a word, he sat down next to Shuichi. They had a silent conversation.

_I'm sorry_, was what Yuki wanted to say, _I haven't talk to you, really talked to you, in a few days and at this point I don't know what to say for myself. _Instead of blurting this, he cleared his throat and snuggled a little deeper into the cushion.

After a few minutes, Shuichi finally replied by reluctantly lying his head on Yuki's shoulder. The man was warm and his shirt sleeve was incredibly fuzzy.

"Are you watching Nittle Grasper show off again?" Yuki said bitterly. _I really do love you. So much._

"What of it?!" Shuichi defended, he grinned slightly. _I guess he means well, he can't help it. He loves me, I'm sure._

The past was forgiven between the two for an hour while they watched the rest of the program.

"Yuki?" Shuichi asked cautiously.

"Huh?"

"Do you love me?"

Yuki sighed and picked up the remote, he focused on flipping through the channels. "Love is bothersome."

"So are you saying you don't?" Shuichi timidly prodded. It hurt. It hurt deeply.

"Why do you always have to do this?!" Yuki growled, shrugging Shuichi off his shoulder. He meant that. He didn't need to say that he loved Shuichi to love Shuichi. The brat was just such a...brat! Why couldn't they spend one night together without this pointless, deep conversation.

Shuichi had not grown as much self-control as he had originally thought of himself. His eyes brimmed with tears. "You always avoid the question!" He whined.

"Go to hell," Yuki mumbled, he was bored of this same old fight and he was ready to dismiss.

Shuichi stood up and ran his hands through his hair, making a frustrated noise. He stomped his foot and huffed out, "God! I'm just your fucking toy. Wanna screw? Shuichi is here to save the day! That is all I am." He stormed down the hallway, grumbling more hideous accusations at himself.

Yuki frowned as his eyes followed Shuichi into the bedroom. He knew how this would work. Shuichi would come out in thirty minutes and try to make it up to Yuki.

They say that when playing tug-of-war with a dog, you can never let it win because that will raise the dog's ego too much and make it believe it is the alpha male and that it has control over its owner.

For reasons similar to this, Yuki would have to kick Shuichi out that night. Shuichi would go to Hiro's and he would be back by that time tomorrow. It was all apart of the routine. Yuki hated that routine, but he was now in too far to show weakness.

"Damn nonsense." Yuki breathed out.

However, the night did not unravel like that.

In fifty minutes, Shuichi trudged back from the bedroom with two large, packed bags. He went to the kitchen and pulled his credit card off of the top of the fridge. Yuki didn't even know that he had one.

"I'm leaving," Shuichi stated simply. "I have everything I need."

Yuki got up and followed Shuichi like a shadow as he retrieved all of this other things.

"Going to Hiro's?" Yuki spat, "See you tomorrow."

"There won't be a tomorrow." Shuichi said crossly, yet too quietly to really really really mean it.

Yuki's heart skipped a beat. He could see Shuichi visibly shaking.

"I'm not coming back." Shuichi continued. He would be strong this time. As unsure as he really was in his head, he kept his voice sharp.

When all the stuff was in Shuichi's possession, he left out the front door. Yuki grabbed his arm and spun him around, "Wait." He sounded calm, but then whimpered out, almost in a desperate attempt, "What do you want from me?" His voice was too small.

Shuichi tried to look him in the eyes, but for a change, Yuki didn't try to out-stare him. Instead, he turned his head away.

Shuichi's eyes glistened with more tears at this as he answered, "Just you." He reassured with the slightest smile, trying to brighten the dreary situation. It didn't help either of them, so with that, Shuichi sped down the hall and headed to Hiro's house. He didn't look back and this time, he really didn't come back.

Yuki stood in the doorway for a long time. He let out an uneven breath and went back in, slamming the door behind him. He needed a damn cigarette.

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So what did you think? There are more chapters to be done as soon as I can. As I said, all critisism is welcome. Even if you didn't like it and found it to be pretentious or whatever, I could really use the help. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Hi again!! Thanks for the sparse reviews, I do really like them! (Who doesn't?) Okay, I'm not going to lie, this chapter is quite a bit slow and typical, but everything escalates after this.

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In the most simple of speak, the next three weeks were hell, on both sides of that break-up.

Shuichi didn't swallow his pride and go to Hiro's that night. Instead, he began staying in a nice hotel with a hot tub in the bathroom, top-notch room service, spa treatments down stairs, and many other features to keep all guests (with the proper amount of money) satisfied. However, all the hours in bubbling, hot water and tension-release massages could not ease Shuichi's uneasiness. He wanted to go back to Yuki's home. He was sick of sleeping alone, but the separation was like being shanked with the eraser side of a pencil, and the wound was still too open and raw, bleeding out if aggravated.

His peers as NG were all aware of the new living arrangements. At first it was rumored that Shuichi was just going on a short vacation and Yuki declined going along, but after awhile, it became clear that this temporary home was going to be rented longer then suspected, and it was not because Yuki didn't want to come along.

Hiro had asked Shuichi why he didn't just, "Come to my house instead of wasting all that money in a hotel."

And Shuichi said honestly, though with too much vagueness to really justify, that he needed, "to be on his own for awhile."

And so things went on like that.

Yuki was no better off.

At first, he was smoking over a pack a day, then he gave up smoking completely only to pick it back up with a fury that included getting more then buzzed most nights. And after a swirl of hangovers and coughing fits, he stopped the drinking, except for the occasional beer and smoking two or three sticks a day.

He wasn't writing stories, though he spent more time in front of the laptop then ever. Usually he would allow himself to get a few hours of sleep every night and he would take some time to eat a nice meal or watch some TV. Now, though, he would let the hours pile into days of just sitting in that black chair, staring at the cursor that laughed menacingly at him with every blink, until eventually, it popped right out of the screen and would slice away at Yuki's scalp, over and over, then he would wake up, slumped against his desk.

One minute he hated Shuichi, then loved him, then hated him again. Love hate love hate love hate. He couldn't help it. There were too many emotions boiling inside him, for just the trouble of one pink-haired brat. He had fallen as low as calling Shuichi and hanging up when the voice mail would answer and freak Yuki out.

Shuichi would stare at his phone during these calls, he would feel is heart rate pick up and his palms begin to sweat, but, he swore to himself that he would be the strong this one time. And he would do just that.

This carried on. Well, barely carried. More or less, things were dragged on by their hair and fingernail tips. And it strained everybody.

Hiro, K, and Suguru would send each other looks during rehearsal. For somebody who was sulking so thoroughly, Shuichi could use his voice at full-force as soon as the beat got going. From dead-seeming to creating such beautiful music in a matter of seconds, It was shocking to all of them. And they could see Shuichi was really more miserable then he was letting on.

"Today is the day," Hiro informed enthusiastically, grabbing Shuichi by the shoulder and shaking him.

Shuichi forced a grin, even though Hiro pulled him out of his thoughts, "Sure is. We are going to do good."

"Good?!" Hiro teased, pulling on Shuichi's hair and then tickling him, "Try great. We are going to rock the pants right off of Seguchi!"

"Knock it off!" Shuichi hollered, trying to suppress a laugh as he kicked Hiro in the stomach.

"We aren't going to impress anybody if you two don't stop goofing around." Suguru sighed.

"That's right," K said, pointing at both of them, "we've got ten minutes. Get yourselves together."

"Now this might be our only shot for awhile, oh god! We could be releasing singles for the rest of my career! Don't screw this up, do you hear me, Shindo?!" Sakano fretted, trying to rip his hair out.

"Yes, yes, don't worry. We've got this," Shuichi reassured, stretching his arms above his head carelessly.

Bad Luck was having Tohma come into the studio that afternoon to listen to them sample a few songs for a new CD. If Tohma was pleased with it, then they could start putting together a new album. If he was not, however, they would have to wait another three months before they could try again. And they were all on bad terms with Tohma as it was, because the boss does not appreciate one of his most promising leading men dumping his unstable brother-in-law.

"Hey K," Hiro asked, "where's the guns?" He motioned to all the places where K could be carrying some kind of weapon, but was not. "On a day like this, I'd expect some seriously heavy artillery."

"I've got all the power I need right here!" He exclaimed, flexing his arms and showing his muscles with a certain spark of pride in his eyes. "And I'm having all my good stuff being polished today. Don't worry, Hiro," he cooed. "It will all be back tonight. _All_ of it."

"Fantastic," Suguru murmured.

"Everybody take a seat!" Sakano squealed, clapping his hands together.

Shuichi plopped down in one of the uncomfortable, plastic chairs. His band mates, as well as the other two, joined him.

Tohma entered a few minutes later, "I hope you don't mind," he greeted, "But I've brought a few friends to tag along." And cue the smile. The "you do anything I say or you end up in a considerable hell" smile.

And in after Tohma came Ryuichi and Yuki.

Shuichi's eyes widened. He quickly darted his view down to his feet.

"You are all familiar with Ryuichi and Eiri," Tohma said. You could feel the joy he had at causing these waves.

Yuki didn't pretend to not be staring at Shuichi, who didn't look up at all.

Hiro put a discreet hand on Shuichi's shoulder and sent Yuki a very dirty look. Yuki smirked at this and raised his eyebrows challengingly.

There was an awkward silence for only a minute, before Ryuichi (sensing what was going on) intervened. He pounced into Shuichi's lap and gave him a hug around the neck, "Maybe when you are done we could sing together! Kumagoro really wants too!" He pulled the pink bunny out of his back pocket and waved it in Shuichi's face.

"Of coarse!" Shuichi laughed, always cheered up by his idols presence.

"Then, lets start. If that is okay with you, Mr. President." Sakano suggested nervously, motioning at the chairs where the band members were sitting.

"Yes, lets begin," Tohma agreed.

Suguru, Hiro, and Shuichi all got up and went to take their spots behind their instruments.

Yuki made a point to take the chair where Shuichi had been sitting, he took care to brush against Shuichi as he went past. Shuichi didn't look up then, either.

And he kept his eyes focused on the wall in front of him, when he stood behind the microphone.

Shuichi introduced the song, Suguru started the beat, Hiro joined in on the guitar, and they played onward. The songs went smoothly like this for over an hour.

Yuki never looked away from his ex-lover. He had asked Tohma if he could go along to the recording at the studio, because he was supposedly writing a piece on Bad Luck, and though it was a blatant lie, neither called it out.

"So cool! Can I sing with you now, Shuichi!" Ryuichi giggled hysterically, bounding over to Shuichi and hugging him around the neck again.

"Sure, Saku- Ryuichi." Shuichi said, correcting himself from calling Ryuichi by his last name, which he knew Ryuichi didn't like.

And so they sang a song together.

Half way through the second duet, one of the company phones (there was one hooked up to in every room as a communication system) rang. Tohma sighed and gave the phone a bad look, but got up and answered it all the same. It was one of his duties as president.

"Tohma here," he said.

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Almost a cliffhanger? I'm sorry if you see it that way, I don't like cliffhangers.

Anyways, yeah, this will be dramatically be picking up after this. As always...REVIEW! Knowing what you guys think can only make this better.

Thank you for sticking around. Expect more...tonight, probably. :D


	3. Chapter 3

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I was excited for this chapter to come, but once I started it, I found it exceedingly difficult. It took me longer then expected, but I think I did pretty good. But that is up to you.

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He stayed quiet for a moment, the phone pressed firmly to his ear, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. Normally Tohma appeared as though he was the type to smile while on the phone, even though whoever was on the other end would not be able to see it.

However, this call was different. He lost his usual facial expression of calmness and authority. He made a cracked noise as though he had something to say, but his brain was falling apart in gooey chunks. His eyes grew wide and his normally pale face became three shades whiter with a slight tint of green.

"You're sure?" He said in a raspy voice, it sounded like he had no air to talk with.

Tohma nodded (so maybe he did have mannerisms that he did while on the phone), "I see. Right away." His voice was softer then usual. Forced, even.

He hung the phone up quickly and peeked through the rectangular window of the door. This seemed to put his peculiar panic into an overload.

He flipped the overhead lights off, while a lamp in the corner of the room provided just a bit of light.

"Seguchi," Yuki said.

"I don't like the dark!" Ryuichi wailed, hugging onto Shuichi, but Shuichi was trying to study what Tohma was doing.

"Shush!" Tohma demanded, "There is somebody in the building," he whispered, "and they are armed. And heading for this room. Everybody needs to hide, now."

Nobody moved, but merely stared at the boss, as if trying to take in what he was saying. Especially considering the circumstances that Tohma was suggesting were horrendous.

"Now!" Tohma insisted, trying to keep his voice down.

"Are you-" K was going to question Tohma's certainty, but he was interrupted.

"Hide!" Tohma hissed.

"...okay," Hiro complied, though he seemed unsure if he should. He backed up a little bit, but looked completely lost.

"Go!" Tohma growled, trying to insert that sense of urgency into his allies. Though he himself was not totally aware of what was going on, he would put trust in that phone call.

Sakano grabbed Tohma (who grabbed Fujisaki) and pulled them into a crook between a wall and some boxes.

"Oh dear!" Sakano whined, fidgeting his thumbs together.

"Come here!" K scolded Ryuichi, who was starting to cry. He grabbed the singer by the shirt and pulled him under a table, he reached out for a stack of boxes and pulled it over so that they were not noticeable.

Shuichi stared at the door, he felt his mouth fall open a bit. He could see somebody approaching the room.

"Hey!" Hiro exclaimed, grabbing Shuichi and taking him into a tall, wooden cabinet. They closed the door almost all the way, Yuki had also taken shelter in it, there was barely room for the three of them, so the tall doors hung open a supposedly innocent crack.

Shuichi was wedged between Hiro and Yuki. He tried to voice his objection, but Hiro slapped a hand over his mouth and Yuki sent him a look that said, _keep your mouth shut till we know what is going on._

They all managed to keep the room eerily quiet.

The doorknob turned and clicked as the door flung open. Nobody had bothered to lock it.

"Hello in there," a man sang as he stepped into the room, flicking on the lights and glancing around the seemingly empty space.

"Hello, hello, hello." He giggled, "I know you are in here. You should come out now." His voice was so light and teasing, it made Shuichi's chest throb.

Sakano squeezed his eyes shut and brought his hands up to his ears. Tohma had his arms around Suguru's chest, holding his younger cousin tightly to him. Suguru put his hands over Tohma's and took a deep breath, holding it in.

Ryuichi bit his lip and held in another sob, he pulled his knees to his chest and put his head down as far as he could, because if he kept his head up, he could see the man's legs through a small opening, which meant that he could also see the gun that hung at the man's side.

Hiro and Yuki both took one of Shuichi's hands. Hiro turned his head away from the crack in the cabinet. Even though he tried to be the mature one, he didn't think he could keep himself perfect if he saw the intruder. However, Yuki wouldn't take his eyes away from the man just outside the doors of that cabinet. Shuichi stared as well, but he was looking past the man, his mind was going insane with everything that could happen to them.

"Come out, darlings," the man continued to coo, "Come out come out come out." He chanted.

He kicked over the microphone stand and started to giggle harder, "If you don't come out, then I will have to make you."

He didn't pause to give them a chance, instead he started firing in random directions. Bullets forcing their way into every tile, instrument, and other random figures.

Yuki received the first bullet, in his side, very close to the edge. It didn't appear to hit anything important, but his brave demeanor completely failed as his eyes grew extremely wide, before pinching shut. A shiver ran through his body, causing his eye brows to twitch and hands to quiver. He sucked his lips in and slouched his shoulders, trying to keep himself quiet.

As mad as Shuichi had been at Yuki, for that time it all disappeared. His hand squeezed Yuki's and his thumb rubbed the other's hand. Yuki turned his head and looked at Shuichi, there were a few stray tears in the corners of his eyes. It could have been strictly driven from the pain, or maybe from closing his eyes so tightly, but maybe he thought he was going to die. Shuichi managed a compassionate smile, but it dropped quickly as another bullet sliced into the cabinet and Yuki again, in the arm that time.

Yuki went back to what he had originally done when the first bullet bit him, same facial expressions and small actions to keep himself quiet. Shuichi could do nothing but rub Yuki's hand with his and hope that the nightmare would end soon.

However, it didn't.

Ryuichi got shot next, in the knee. He arched his back and threw his head backwards, but K wrapped an arm around his stomach to keep him still and a hand over his mouth to keep his groans muffled.

"It'll be okay," K whispered in a small breath directly into Ryuichi's ear. It was almost inaudible.

The fourth and final shot of that round hit Suguru in the stomach. He squealed out and let his head fall forward. Tohma didn't get a chance to keep him quiet.

"Found you!" The man screeched, he bolted over to the three and pulled Suguru out by the hair. Sakano and Tohma followed out into the center of the room, because they had no choice.

"Now tell me, Suguru Fujisaki, where are the other five?" The man sang, smiling brightly.

"I-I...ha," Suguru panted, he was hit somewhere critical. He put a fist over the wound and tried to keep himself upright. He fell backwards, Tohma held him up.

The man found this hilarious, his cackling only increased. "Okay!" He screamed joyously, he made Tohma move his hand and he shoved his thumb into the wound in Suguru's belly.

Fujisaki instantly coughed, blood pooled into his mouth and dribbled quickly down his chin. His eyes glazed over with something of undeniable misery, "Under -heh- under the table." He huffed, unable to catch his breath. He hacked again, blood splattered in blotches onto the floor. Tears from realization of defeat came to his eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Tohma asked, trying to stay calm.

The man pointed the gun at Tohma and pressed it to his forehead, he held it there for a moment, they made eye contact with each other.

"Bang!" The man screamed.

Sakano squealed and fell over, completely knocked out.

"How cute, he fainted," the man said.

He pointed the gun at the boxes covering the table opening, "You guys, under the table, better come out now."

K did as he was told, he helped Ryuichi crawl out, and then supported him as he limped into the center of the room as well.

"All of you against the wall, now." The man said, using his gun to motion at all of them.

Suguru pushed off of Tohma and slowly dragged his feet to the wall, where he collapsed to the floor. Tohma slipped his shoulders under Ryuichi's arms and helped him over to the wall as well.

K picked Sakano up, threw him over his shoulder and carried him there, where he laid him on the floor.

"No talking," the man said, putting a hairy finger to his lips.

He was still for a moment, but then shot the ceiling and yelled, "I said no talking!"

Nobody had spoken a word.

"Now," he said, "the other three of you are going to come out right now, or I will shoot the blond one. You guess which one of the two that is."

Yuki didn't move, nor did Hiro. Like statues left in storage for a little too long. Shuichi looked at both of them. He didn't want to leave, but he knew there wasn't a choice.

"There are no others," K pointed out, glaring at the man with the gun.

"Oh, yes there are. I know where all of you have been and where you are supposed to be for a whole month after today. And I know that Shuichi Shindo and Hiro Nakano would be here for their own rehearsal."

Tohma let himself be comforted for a moment in the fact that the gunman did not think to ask about Yuki, but this wasn't so.

"And Eiri Yuki, or whatever his name is, called your cellphone and asked you at 3:52 yesterday afternoon if he could come along. I heard." The man continued, grinning at Tohma.

Shuichi wanted to pull his friends out of the cabinet to save those that had already been discovered, but he couldn't get his knees to work. He willed them to move, but they wouldn't. He started to cry out of pure frustration and those knees of his gave out as he fell into a squat and stumbled out of the cabinet, pulling Hiro and Yuki along with him.

"There you are, dears." The man chuckled, "All of you, against the wall. Now."

Yuki helped Shuichi get up, Shuichi sniffled and wiped his eyes. He got a hold of himself and went over to the wall alone. Completely oblivious to Yuki. So Hiro had to help support Yuki and get him to there too.

"Eiri," Tohma breathed, seeing the blood coming from his brother-in-law's side and forearm.

Yuki looked at Tohma, but shook his head and leaned against the wall.

"Okay! The team is all here! I'm your new captain, and I need just one assistant." The man explained, holding up a finger. "And in a few minutes, one of you will be going on a journey with me."

Ryuichi couldn't stop himself from sobbing, he hugged himself and tried to stop. K put an arm around his shoulders.

"Now before you all get _too_ excited, lets take a role call!"

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Well, at least we all know something now.

I wanna say thanks to those who reviewed. I received some very helpful tips. My new concern is OOCness. I think I'm doing sorta OK, but if you think something is off, feel free to comment.


	4. Chapter 4

First of all, I just wanna say thanks again! I come home completely brain-dead from exams and I'm mumbling in a cross between broken German and Spanish and when I open my inbox, what do I see? Reviews! Awesome, awesome reviews! So I say thanks for the encouragement and thoughts. Enjoy the new chapter, the intensity continues.

Disclaimer (I haven't done this in a few chapters): I do not own Gravitation or any of the characters portrayed. However, I have half a pretzel stick!

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"You can call me Mao," the man said, bowing slightly. He was met with the demanded silence. He looked over the group again and again, his eyes darting back and forth.

K and Tohma shared a questioning look.

"Role call!" Mao belted out. "When I call your name, say 'present'!"

"Tohma Seguchi!"

"Present."

"Hiro Nakano!"

"Present."

"Shuichi Shindo!"

"Present."

"Suguru Fujisaki!"

"...pah-present."

"Claude K Winchester!"

"Present, and so is Sakano."

"Ryuichi Sakuma!"

"Here."

Without breaking expression, Mao lifted his gun and fired, a rewarding bullet lodging into Ryuichi's shoulder. He screeched out something incoherent and sunk to the floor, his leg with the injured knee stretched out in front of him. Ryuichi put a hand over the wound as the blood seeped through his shaking fingers.

"Why did you shoot him?!" Shuichi demanded, stomping his foot. Hiro put a hand on his friend's chest and pushed him back against the wall.

"Don't!" Hiro quietly insisted.

"I said say 'present' and he did not. There has to be repercussions for misbehavior." Mao said, giggling wildly and clapping his hands together.

"Now, Eiri Uesugi."

"Present." Yuki stared at the floor, his face was was turning purple and he was sweating profusely.

"All here," Mao sang exaggeratedly. "Now, time to pick an assistant, me thinks!"

"But before we start, any pleas?"

There was a hesitated silence.

"Can't you just leh... -hah– let us go?" Suguru pressed, trying to keep his eyes open and his voice still. He knew that his suggestion was useless.

"Of coarse not, silly boy!" Mao said, "If I did that, then I wouldn't have anybody to go with!"

"But we have families and lives that you are disturbing," K tried to reason.

"Think of how much you would be hurting them if you hurt us any further," Hiro added on.

They all kind of figured that this kind of begging was probably meaningless to somebody who was willing to shoot people at random and then laugh in their faces.

"Bullshit if I've ever heard a good load of bullshit!" Mao teased.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a deck or cards.

"Count out eight," Mao demanded, throwing the deck of cards to Yuki, who didn't even make a move to catch them.

Tohma reached down and picked them up after they spread over the floor, he shuffled them back into a pile as quickly as he could, then counted out eight and handed that stack as well as the original stack back.

"Looks like somebody has their own personal bitch, Mr. Yuki. How precious. Especially that bitch being the head of a big and powerful company!" Mao sneered, cackling like it was rib-splitting.

He chucked the excess cards behind him, they scattered everywhere.

Taking one of the eight cards, he approached the group, waving his gun around to show his authority.

K had every intention of pouncing on Mao and ripping every muscle in his body out, but he stayed still as the gun pointed at him numerous times.

Mao stepped up to Yuki and jabbed the flat end of the card in Yuki's open wound. Yuki's eye twitched, but he kept himself quiet, he didn't dare make a noise. When the card was well soiled in blood, Mao laid it gently on the floor, then put the rest of the cards face down around it, he turned away so that the group could not see how he was shuffling them.

After a moment, he stepped back and motioned to the pile of cards, "Everybody gets one." He pointed as Suguru, "You will pick for them. Go over there."

Suguru glared at Mao and Hiro spoke up, "Please, can't somebody else pick? Suguru is hurt! He might be dying."

"Then he will die if he needs to, but he will be the one to pick the cards, now go or I shoot Tohma." Mao laughed, pointing the gun at Tohma's temple.

"Okay!" Suguru wailed, "Just don't shah- shoot him." Sucking in the best breath of air that he could, he got on his knees and dragged his weakened body to the cards. He fell onto his side and panted heavily.

"Pick for yourself," Mao said, "Then Tohma, then Yuki, then Shuichi, then K and we will see who goes after that."

Suguru nodded slightly, he picked up a card, it was a joker. He showed Mao. Then he picked up another one, three of hearts. Then an ace of spades. When it came to be Shuichi's turn, he pulled the card that was soaked in blood, the red queen.

"Ding ding! We have a winner!" Mao hollered, he danced in a circle, "Just the one I wanted!"

He went up to the group and linked arms with Shuichi, pulling him away from the wall. Shuichi made a surprised noise and stumbled when Mao yanked his arm. "What do I win?" Shuichi mumbled, he was very worried about what the prize could be.

"The journey of coarse! You are going on the journey with me!"

"What is the journey?" Hiro demanded.

"The next life," Mao said, the words standing isolated, making everybody cringe.

"No." Yuki sharply whispered. "Pick somebody else."

"Sorry, rules are rules." Mao chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

"Please don't do this!" Shuichi pleaded as he began to cry and whimper, "You don't have to do this! Don't, please, don't."

"You can't change my mind, come on Shuichi, goodbye to the rest of you." Mao laughed.

Shuichi began to struggle, pulling away as hard as he could, but his thin figure was nothing compared to Mao's husky one.

"I said pick somebody else!" Yuki barked, pushing off the wall and storming up to them.

Mao put the gun to the side of Shuichi's head and held it there. "Uh-uh. Everybody is going to stop resisting me, now."

Yuki stopped in his tracks. This decision was too high for him. Go after Shuichi and risk him getting shot then and there, or let Shuichi be taken by Mao and shot there. He couldn't make himself move.

"Can't you reconsider?! Please." Hiro began to beg, tears springing to his eyes.

Mao lifted the gun and shot Hiro twice. Both in his midsection.

"Hiro!" Shuichi screeched, pulling on Mao even more.

Mao held Shuichi tight and smirked, "I told you to stop resisting."

Hiro's mouth fell open, he brushed his hands over the wounds before falling unconscious and crashing to the floor before anybody could catch him.

"Hiro, wake up!" Shuichi sobbed.

Mao pulled Shuichi out of the room, "You are all staying here until we are done. When you hear two gunshots, you are free to leave, but if you make a move before that, well then more of you will be dead before it is all done. Tah-tah, we will be in the room over." He reached back into the room and shot the phone on the wall.

"Get back here!" Yuki bellowed, he pounded on the door as Mao shut it.

K and Tohma held Yuki back, "No!" They both said, keeping him away from the exit, "You have to stay here or who knows who else will get it."

Yuki was grunting because he was breathing so hard, he was growling too, and there were tears running down his face, completely unnoticed by him. Tohma pulled him into an unbreakable hug and gently stroked his hair. Yuki didn't calm down, every few moments he would try to get away by jerking backwards, but Tohma shushed him and held him there. Held him safe in his brother-in-law's arms. That is how it had always been.

K sighed and kneeled down by Hiro, he took off his his first shirt and started to apply pressure to the heavily bleeding bullet holes. Hiro coughed, blood shooting forward and onto K's undershirt. He ignored the blood that was staining through, onto in stomach and held the clothe on the wound tight. This had to be over soon.

* * *

Lets gets this all straight.

Hiro has been shot twice in the midsection, Yuki has been shot in the side and arm, Shuichi has been taken away by Mao to go on the journey, Ryuichi has been shot in the knee and the shoulder, K is taking care of Hiro, Sakano is blacked out, Suguru has been shot in the stomach, Tohma is holding back Yuki, and we are all in magic cheese land!

What did you think? I'm just trying to help everybody keep up with all the characters.

Was it predictable that Shuichi was the one picked to be taken? Probably. Oh well.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the wait!

Eh-hem. Hi.

Well, I don't usually have a lot of time to work on stuff. I won't give up on the story, but during the week I have a lot of things that I need to get done, so it is the weekends that I update. Sorry that I didn't warn you ahead of time, because that was kind of a cliffhanger.

So I did have some time on Wednesday, but my laptop (which is more then a decade old) wasn't starting and it was a big issue.

XD  
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or any of the characters mentioned.

* * *

"How ya doing, Suguru?" K asked, not looking up from Hiro's wound that he was applying pressure to in hopes of making it stop bleeding so hard. However, it wasn't working as planned and though he was breathing heavily, Hiro hadn't regained consciousness.

"Been better," Suguru said breathlessly, he rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling, trying to focus on things other then the bullet lodged somewhere near his stomach.

"What about you, Ryuichi?" K said.

Ryuichi stared straight ahead, he didn't answer at first. Kumagoro was clenched in his fists. He took a breath before finally saying, "I'm fine." His voice was hush.

Yuki stopped struggling against Tohma after awhile, he started to shake even harder then he was previously and slowly, his knees gave in and he sat on the floor. Fully awake, but unable to get up. He wanted to bolt and go get Shuichi, but he couldn't even find the energy to get away from his brother-in-law, so how was he supposed to play the knight in shining armor?

The idea fogged into his mind of Shuichi dying, he tried to comprehend it, understand that on that day, Shuichi was going to die and there was nothing he could do. He put his face in his hands and mumbled this thoughts out loud. It was too hard to figure out. A world without Shuichi. Shuichi being shot in the head, or chest, or maybe even strangled or killed in some other way.

"Eiri?" Tohma prodded, squatting down and putting a hand on Yuki's shoulder.

"Go away," Yuki murmured.

"Eiri." Tohma sighed.

"Get the hell away from me!" Yuki demanded, shoving Tohma away. The boss stared wide-eyed for a moment, but decided that it was his fault for nagging, he shook his head and crawled over to Ryuichi.

"We need to put pressure on your injuries," Tohma said, slipping out of his coat and pushing it against the second bullet wound Ryuichi received. The singer didn't react except for squeezing his plushie harder. Ryuichi squirmed a bit, "That is an expensive jacket," he pointed out, trying to move so that Tohma would stop getting blood on it.

Tohma frowned and held Ryuichi still as he continued to apply pressure, "I don't care about the coat. The last thing we need is you losing too much blood."

"Tohma," Ryuichi mumbled.

Tohma shushed him, "Don't worry about it."

So Ryuichi did as he was told and stayed quiet. Nobody would say it, but they were all thinking about Shuichi. It wasn't possible for him to die, right?

"Sit down," Mao said, shoving Shuichi into a chair.

Shuichi ran into the chair, knocked it over, and fell hard on the side of it.

"Eh," he whined, his rib cage was throbbing

"So cute," Mao cackled, grabbing Shuichi by the arm, yanking him up, then throwing him into a different chair.

"Don't do this, please, don't do this!" Shuichi babbled, the tears coming on quickly and not ceasing once they started.

Mao completely ignored his begging, he continued his plans as though Shuichi wasn't saying a thing.

"We don't need to do anything weird, like chants or something. You know, I looked it up and there are all these weird rituals that have been done before a planned journey. I figure we won't waste our time with any of that. Lets just load and go!" Mao explained, he giggled again and pivoted in a circle.

"You first and then me," he said, raising the gun and pointing it at Shuichi's head.

"No! Please! Don't do it, don't do it!" Shuichi clapped his hands together, he was sobbing and screeching. "I can give you anything you want! Money, sex, anything. Don't shoot me!"

"It has been fun, Shuichi Shindo," Mao said.

"Please!" Shuichi screamed.

Mao smirked and pulled the trigger.

Shuichi bolted out of the chair and plowed into Mao, knocking him over. Out of surprise, Mao lost his grip on the gun. Shuichi snatched it away and jumped to his feet, backing away.

"Shuichi," Mao cooed holding out his hands gently, "I had no clue that you wanted to go first, but I don't think that will work, considering we haven't really created a trusting bond yet. We can work on that in the next life. Luckily I brought a second." Mao reached into his back pocket, in one swift move he pulled a hand gun out and pulled the trigger.

Shuichi threw his body sideways as soon as he saw the second gun. He avoided being killed and he retaliated by shooting back. He felt his body get forced backwards with every shot, rattling him hard. He closed his eyes and stopped shooting after the fifth bullet exited the gun. With every shot he let off, he felt a little bit of his energy draining and he couldn't bare to shoot anymore.

He looked at Mao, three of those shots hit him. One in the head. Mao's eyes widened further then anybody else's had that day. His mouth fell open and a trickle of blood dripped from his forehead into his eyes. He tried to mouth something, but he knees crumbled and he fell to the floor.

Shuichi started to hyperventilate, he held the gun pointed at Mao for a few minutes, ready to fire again if he had to, though he doubted he could make himself pull that trigger a single time more.

Mao didn't move.

Shuichi got on his knees and crawled over to Mao, hesitantly pushing his shoulder as lightly as a needy kitten would nuzzle into somebody.

Mao still didn't move.

Shuichi started to breathe harder, he wasn't crying anymore, but he was barely breathing. He slowly took a pulse on Mao. There was none.

"Oh...oh god." Shuichi panted, he pushed himself backwards as fast as he could and stared. His hands were quivering. He wiped his face and ran his hands through his hair, almost pulling it out as it caught under his nails.

Everybody awake in the other room looked up when they heard the first gunshot. Ryuichi looked down and started to cry quietly.

The room was too tense, nobody could think of something to say.

"Dammit," K said under his breath.

But then, another set of five shots popped, becoming ambient in their studio.

"What does that mean?" Tohma asked himself out loud.

"I dunno," K answered.

Suguru had passed out.

Yuki didn't respond to anything. Completely unsure of what had happened, Ryuichi started to sob harder. Tohma hugged him. Ryuichi didn't hug him back. His fists were so tight around Kumagoro, that he always ripped the pink fabric.

The door slowly opened, it caught everybody's attention. K jumped to his feet.

They expected to see Mao again, or somebody with the police, or god knows who...

...but it was Shuichi.

"Shuichi!" Ryuichi squealed, crying harder with relief.

"Where is Mao?" Tohma asked right away.

Yuki looked up at Shuichi standing there. Was this really happening? Or did the wounds make him delusional? He took a deep breath and looked harder, Shuichi didn't seem to be an illusion and he didn't seem to be hurt either.

Shuichi kept his eyes down and his arms folded across his chest, he cracked out so quietly that it took everyone a minute to really realize what he said. "I killed him."

"I'm going to get the police," K announced suddenly. He ran down the hallway and didn't have to go far, there was an army police forces barricaded just out the front doors.

"In here, men!" K called, going into old habits and motioning roughly down the hall.

Cops, detectives, and paramedics stormed the building.

* * *

I would like to thank everybody who reviewed. Good stuff! I'd love it if you keep it up.

What did you think? This chapter actually gave me a lot of issues. It felt too rushed.


	6. Chapter 6

*pants* I'm back! Ah. I tried to upload and it wouldn't let me! *sniffle* And then I finally got around to it a little bit ago, only to remember that I forgot to put in the author note, so I had to fix that so I could say, I'm sorry for the lateness! I've actually been busy for a change. I'm going to try to start doing weekend updates. Good, yes?

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or any of the characters mentioned.

* * *

Shuichi had started out with his arms crossed, but like a pony tail being knotted tightly into a bun without a gator clip, his arms slipped until he was loosely hugging himself around the belly. He ran his fingers over his sides and wondered what it felt like to have a bullet lodged in them.

He closed his eyes and took a long inhale, tilting his head back and looking up at the orange, evening sky.

They had been evacuated from the building and everybody except Shuichi, Tohma, and K were going to the hospital in stretchers. K was going to be riding in the ambulance to the hospital, but that was merely to keep an eye on everybody else who had been injured (except Sakano, who they were checking out just to be safe).

Tohma and Shuichi were going to be taken to the police station to be questioned and all that lawful jazz. Though it was suggested that they were also taken to the ER for examination. Tohma insisted that they were okay, but he agreed that they should go to the hospital because, "you can never be too sure." However, he really just wanted to get out of having to go with the police.

Shuichi had followed the S.W.A.T. team out of the building and has collapsed on a bench just off to the side of all the commotion.

Surprisingly, there were no reporters or any kind of paparazzi. Shuichi assumed they were told to stay a certain number of blocks away. He thought about if for a minute, but decided it didn't matter either way.

His hands were still shaking, he glared at them and tried to make them stop, but he couldn't do it. His adrenaline was just too high. He felt like he should be running and screaming around the city as mad as a hatter, but at the same time, he had absolutely no energy to get off the bench, which he wasn't enjoying anyways. It was too hard and flat. He wished he could go sink into the couch at Yuki's apartment.

Speaking of Yuki, where was he?

Shuichi looked at the numerous ambulances, he saw Tohma conversing with some officials, Suguru and Hiro being rolled in, and there was Yuki. He was sitting up and arguing with the paramedic. Apparently didn't want to be sedated. Stubborn Yuki, he should know better.

Then something else caught Shuichi's attention. The final ambulance in the row had the doors in the back sitting open, and in it was a stretcher with a figure in a _body bag_. He turned his head away immediately and wouldn't look up. There was no way he could go over there now. As if he wasn't shamed enough from what he had done, there sat the evidence for everybody to see. He squeezed his eyes shut and rocked back and forth slightly. Nobody was going to prosecute him, right? It was self defense. He didn't want to do it. He didn't. There was no other way. No other choice. He had to do it, he had to do it, he had to...

"Shuichi?" Tohma asked, sitting down next to the singer on the bench.

Shuichi's eyes popped open and he gave Tohma a glance, but his eyes were instantly drawn to the body bag that was just in vision behind a tuft of Tohma's light hair.

Shuichi looked down again.

Tohma watched Shuichi's actions and then looked behind his shoulder. He saw Mao's figure as well and after holding a stare for a few moments, he turned away as well. The thought of Mao's corpse under Shuichi's doing made him nauseous.

"You need to come with us to the hospital, they want to make sure you are not hurt," Tohma said quietly, being as compassionate as he possibly could. This all felt too strange. Not just the abnormality of the crimes that were committed that day, but there was something else too. Something he couldn't put his finger on.

"I'm fine." Shuichi tried to persuade in his small voice. He wouldn't look at Tohma.

"I'm sure you are," Tohma patronized, putting a hand on Shuichi's shoulder, "but you never know. It's for the best that you come with."

"I'm fine." Shuichi repeated, his voice raising a bit, the tone twisting into cockiness.

Tohma wasn't startled at this, "I understand that you are fine, but they just want to double check. You can't always see what is wrong."

"Look," Shuichi started, looking straight ahead, "I'm fine." He was loud now, defiant, not quite yelling, but sharp enough to get a strong point across. "Do you see any blood on me?! I'm not hurt. Why don't you go take care of Suguru or Yuki or somebody, because at least they are really injured." By the time Shuichi got to the last two words, his voice was shaking and he had started to cry a bit, though he refused to notice it. Tohma watched the tears dribble downward then twinkle as they fell from Shuichi's chin in the dying sun's light.

Tohma closed his eyes pulled Shuichi into a hug, holding the singer's head against his shoulder. Shuichi could have been strong if they let him be, but Tohma never just let somebody be, and Shuichi couldn't control himself as he started to sob.

"He's dead, Tohma. Why did he die? He shot all those bullets and didn't kill anybody, but I shoot a few and he dies. Shit. He died." Shuichi squeaked, hugging Tohma around the midsection and sobbing into his shirt.

Tohma felt a bizarre shiver run up the back of his neck as he realized what this situation was so very alike with. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten for even a minute.

New York.

Yuki Kitazawa.

Eiri.

Familiar with this kind of pain.

Shuichi was so frail in his arms just as Eiri had been those years ago. Though both of those events did not happen detail to detail, Tohma could almost mistake Shuichi for Eiri when he let his mind take him back to that dark room with the bodies spread of the floor.

He had sworn to himself that something like this would never happen again. He could always keep a handle on the world.

But he was wrong and there was not a thing he could do when that gun was pointed at himself and the ones he cared for. He had no control. He couldn't even run a building that was secure enough to keep a killer out. What a fool he had been to really believe that he could manipulate anything to work as he saw fit. How dare he think of himself as a god. What an idiot. What a conceited, arrogant, worthless fool.

He put his head on Shuichi's and started to cry too. The reality of it was just too hard to think about.

"I'm sorry I let this happen," Tohma mumbled, his shoulders twitched as he silently heaved out sobs. "I should have done better."

Shuichi pulled back a little bit to get a look at Tohma, who kept his face hidden.

"Seguchi," Shuichi whined and hugged his boss as his boss and just been hugging him.

K looked over to the bench as his ambulance pulled away. Two people who previously despised each other were now crying in each others' arms. How ironic.

After awhile, both of them calmed down, hence they stopped crying. Shuichi pulled away and looked as his thumbs which he was fiddling with.

Tohma sniffled hard and wiped his eyes. He took a deep breath and ran his hands over his face a few times. He ran his fingers though his hair and then brushed his hands on this pants. He stood up and straightened his coat.

"Come on, Mr. Shindo, I will drive us." Tohma said, clearing his throat discretely against his fist.

Feeling absolutely shitty, but a little bit better, Shuichi nodded, "Okay." He stood up as well and didn't even bother to make himself look more presentable.

The two walked through the crowd of cops and paramedics. The ambulances had all gone.

"We will be going to the hospital now and will go elsewhere, as needed, after we've been checked over," Tohma told one of the officers. It wasn't a suggestion, it was a demand.

Shuichi found Tohma's car and crawled into the passenger seat. It was a lovely black car, shiny and high off the ground. It surprised Shuichi that Tohma actually drove himself to work.

Tohma got into the drivers seat and off they went. The windows were tinted, so nobody could see Shuichi staring at them as they rode from stop light to stop light.

"What hospital are we going to?" Shuichi asked as they sped past the turn to get to East Tokyo Emergency Center.

"I have a detour to make first," Tohma explained.

"Do you need to go get your wife?"

"Of coarse not," Tohma said.

Shuichi blushed. That was a weird thing to assume.

"Would you like some coffee?" Tohma asked, he turned the car into a drive-through coffee shop.

"Sure," Shuichi said, a little amused with the thought of Tohma doing something as average as picking up coffee while he drove around in his car and didn't do exactly as he dictated.

"How do you like your's?" Tohma questioned.

"With a shot of vodka," Shuichi mumbled, "White chocolate, caramel, mint espresso," Shuichi spoke up before Tohma could comment on his sarcasm.

Tohma ordered that as well as himself a black coffee.

And then to the hospital they went.

* * *

I think I make too many characters cry. xD


	7. Chapter 7

I think this is one of those situations where there isn't even a point in apologizing. This isn't some chapter that was a few weeks late. Oh no, it has been well over a year. Lots of stuff has been happening and for a long time I completely forgot the existence of this, but I guess that is just life, eh?

Either way, I will give you another chapter and if I don't space, then there may be another soon after that. However, I am not making any promises. Lets all pretend this is rehab and play the "one day at a time" game.

Hahah.

Enjoy. :3

* * *

Shuichi remembered he didn't like hospitals the second he walked into one. The smell crawled under his skin and made him madly itchy. Everything so clean. Very white. Yet a sense of death and disease hung in the air. It manifested on sorrowful faces in waiting rooms and stiff bodies in their beds.

Tohma strode followed closely behind. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable too, but it wasn't the emergency room, nor the atmosphere, but the situation itself.

Shuichi wondered about this and felt a flicker of self-loathing. Something unimaginable had happened a countable sum of hours before and he was more upset by the hospital's vibes then the occurrences that led him there.

_Pathetic. _

A couple knobs turned into the off position in Shu's head. He was examined, he told them what hurt and what didn't. He was questioned, he told them every detail of what he, and Mao, had done. He was asked to go home, he accepted a ride from Tohma.

"Could you...um." Shuichi had attempted to speak, but the request he wanted to make seemed so ludicrous, yet possible.

"What?"

Shuichi grimaced down at the brace the doctors had put his wrist in. It was sprained somewhere in the fiasco of the day, but he couldn't remember when. "Just...could you take me to Yuki's?"

For a moment, just a moment, blind rage flared in Seguchi's stomach and ran through his veins to this hands. Like a slap in the face, he recalled all that had happened and suddenly, it no longer seemed like the worst thing in the world for his little Eiri to have such a harmless playmate.

Well, he corrected himself slightly. Shuichi couldn't be so harmless anymore, considering he had killed somebody. But he was definitely damaged and maybe that was enough to get along with Yuki.

"Of course," Tohma said.

Shuichi was nervous. Yuki had been sent home from the hospital, he knew that much. So had K.

Suguru and Hiro were still in intensive care. Ryuichi and Sakano needed to be observed for the night.

Shuichi's breath caught when they pulled up to Yuki's apartment complex. He didn't know why the hell he had asked to come here. There were still fighting after all.

No.

There were broken up.

The need to be with somebody nagged at him. He craved a familiar bed and face. It was overpowering.

But what if they fought?

It was a risk worth taking.

Shuichi knocked twice, paused, knocked again, paused. He bit his lip as worry seeped to his core. Even for Yuki, who was very slow about getting to the door from his study, didn't take this long. And besides, why would he be working?

"Yuki?!" Shuichi hollered and pounded furiously on the door. He was hurting his already damaged wrist. He was panicking. Still, though, there was no response from inside.

"Dammit!" Shuichi exclaimed. Frustrated tears coated his eyes. He wiped them roughly and walked away, not sure why Yuki wasn't answering the door. He was too exhausted to press on the issue.

He supposed he'd just have to endure the night somewhere else.

Past the door, down the hallway, tucked away in the bedroom, Yuki slept soundly, pain medication fueling his dreamless, yet deep slumber.

* * *

Not the best chapter, but a good start after a long break. Things will pick up more. We need to know what is happening with the rest of the gang, of course. Not just Shu.


End file.
